Chaeles ii



(N0 Model.)

C. H. MEYLAN.

RBPBATING WATCH. No. 390,501,

Patented Oct. 2, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT @Erica CHARLES Il. MEYLANJOF NEV YORK., N. Y.

RPEATING-WATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Let-ters Patent No. 390,501, dated October 2, 1888.

Application filed April 10, 1SSS. Serial No. 270.170. (Xo model.)

To' all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHAItLEs II. METLN, of the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Repeating and Striking Vatehes, ot which the following is a specification.

Watches have heretofore been made in which there is a sonorous body that is struck by a hammer for denoting the hour of day, and by subsequentstrokes the minutes, one stroke being struck for each five minutes. Mechanism for accomplishing this object is represented in the application, Serial No. 241,690, of Henri Onesime Stauier, iiled June 18, 1887. My present invention is an improvement upon this device, whereby the parts are so arranged ihat they can be introduced into watches of ordinary construction, or nearly so.

In myimprovemeuts thestem-windi-ngmeehanisin corresponds to that which has heretofore been used, and the particular levers and hammers for striking the wire or sonorous body resemble those in the aforesaid application; but I introduce the snail-wheel, which determines the number ofstrokes, one for each live minutes, upon the minute-hand arbor and between the pinion made use otin setting the hands and the wheel and tubular arbor upon which the hour-hand is placed. rlhereby I am enabled to make use ot' wheels for reducing the speed from the minute-hand arbor to the hour-hand arbor, similar to those usually employed in ordinary watches, and the arrangement of parts is such that much less space is required between the watch-plate and dial for the parts of the repeating ,mechanism than if theniinute-snail were placed below the setting-pinion.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan View, in larger size, of one plate ot'the watch and of the gearing connected therewith. Fig. 2 is a section, in still larger size, at the line .r Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a detached view of one of the racks made use of in partially winding up the spring-barrel for giving motion to the striking mechanism, and Fig. 4 is a detached View of the ratchet-wheel that acts upon the hammer-cam in striking the hours. Fig. 5 is a detached view ofthe minute-snail and its surprise, the star-wheel upon the arbor of the hour-snail, and a part of the finger that acts upon the minute-snail, the parts being in the lposition they assume as the hour is conipletedA The spring-barrel is represented at D by dotted lines as between the two plates of the watch, and the plate B, which is represented in Fig. l, is recessed in its surface to receive the respective wheels and levers, hereinafter described, and there is a stein, 3, passing through a bearing and provided with a pinion, 4, gearing into a wheel, l5, and the axis of this wheel 15 forms a pivot upon which the lever C can be rocked, and there is a pinion, 7, constantly in gear with the wheel l5 and having its pivot upon the lever C. In the normal position of the parts this pinion 7 is in gear with the teeth upon the spring-barrel D, and when in this position the spring-barrel is wound by rotating the stem 3 by the crownwheel, as usual. rIhe push-piece 9 is provided for swinging the lever C in one direction, so as to separate the pinion I andthe Wheel of the spring-barrel D when it is desired to set the hands, and there is a spring, l, that acts against the lever C to bring the pinion 7 into contact with the teeth upon the spring-barrel when the parts are not other- Wise acted upon.

At the other end of the lever C is a gearwheel, S, constantly in gear with the wheel 15, and when the push-piece 9 is moved the lever C is swung so that the pinion S is brought into gear with the intermediate pinion,b, and this in turn rotates the second wheel, b, that is in gear with the pinion d upon the arbor d,so as to rotate this arbor d and the minutehand dt for setting the same, and the reducing-gears c, e', and et are similar to those made use ofin ordinary watches, except that the tubular arbor that connects the pinion et to the wheel @,is sufficiently long for affording the proper space between the pinion d and the wheel e' upon the arbor d for the snail and surprise,as hereinafter described. It will be noticed upon reference to Fig. 2 that the pinion (Z ofthe central arbor, d', gears directly with the gearwheel e, and that the pinion et thereof gears directly with the wheel c upon the tubular arbor o for the hour-hand ot. The sizes of these wheels and pinions d c e et are such that the tubular arbor o receives one revolution for each twelve revolutions ofthe arbor d and minute-hand di.

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The train of gearing that extends from the spring barrel to the escapement and balance wheel of the watch is to be of any desired character, and is not represented herein, eX- cept that atf l have represented a portion of the tubular arboror center cannon in the train of gearing for the arbor d', and this arbor d is revolved by frictional contact with the tubular or cannon arborf, so that the arbor d may turn within the tubular cannon or arborfin setting the watch; but the friction of the parts will always be sufficient for turning the hands and also the mechanism that controls the action of the repeating or striking mechanism.

The portion of the arbor d which is within the tubular arbor o is larger than that portion of the arbor d that passes through the cannon f, so that a shoulder can be formed thereon at p, for the reception of the minute'hand snail T, which snail is to be riveted or irmly secured at this point to the arbor d. The separate plate 50, known as the surprise,77 has a hole through it for the passage of the arbor d', and such surprise is loose upon said arbor cl',- but it is kept in place by the pinion d, which pinion dis driven on aslightly-taperingportion of the arbor d' so tightly that it will not turn upon said arbor when the hands are being set. The surprise is carried around with the minute-snail T by a pin, 52, upon the latter,which pin is 4within aslot or notched portion in the surprise, and which slot allows alimited motion to the surprise, and upon the surprise is a pin, 51, that acts upon the star-wheel 35 and moves the same one tooth each hour, and upon the arbor of the star-wheel 35 is the hour-snail 36. The minute-snail T is made wit-h twelve steps, as usual-one step for each five minutes, and the step that is farthest from the arbor d of said snail is partially eut away to allow the finger 41 to pass to the step that is nearest to said arbor d. Just before the hour is completed the pin 51 acts upon a tooth of 35, and as said wheel 35 isturned it forces the inclined portion of the spring 53 out from between the two teeth it had been bearing against, and exactly as the hour is completed the pin 51 passes by the tooth of 35 it had been pressing against and the springs 53 slips past the tooth of 35 that had been moving it and passes in behind said tooth and completes the movement of the starwheel 35. At the same time the tooth of the star-wheel next following the one that had been acted upon by the pin 51 strikes said pin and moves the surprise the amount limited by the notch therein to the position shown in Fig. 5, so that aportion, 54, of the surprise forms a continuation of the step of the minute-snail T that is farthest from the arbor d, and such portion 54 prevents the linger 41 passing to the step of the snail nearest to the arbor d if said finger is acted upon immediately after the hour is passed. The finger 41 is upon a lever provided with a segmental rack, V, hereinafter described, and if this lever is actuated and the finger 41 brought into contact with the first step of the snail, or the surprise that forms part of this first step, during the first five minutes of the hour no blow will be given by the minute-hammer, because said first step prevents then-nger 41 being moved a sufficient distance; but as soon as itis tiveminutes past the hour then the snail T will have been revolved, so thatits second step T will bein such a position thatif the tnger 41 is brought against said second step one blow will be struck by the minute-hammer to indicate ive minutes past the hour, and so on for the successive steps of the snail T. After the hour is completed thesurprise remains stationary until the snail T in its revolution has brought the pin 52 against the surprise in the opposite end of the slot in said surprise. Then the snail T and surprise move together.

The toothed segment U is upon the pivot 39, and upon the same pivot is a swinging lever, Q, that is acted upon by a push-piece, I, so as to swing such lever Qand toothed segment U by moving the push-piece I in the direction of the arrow. There is also a lever, QF, upon said pivot 39, and this lever Q3 has a inger, 37. By moving the push-piece l the segment U is acted upon and the teeth thereof rotate the pinion 30 and arbor 16 to wind up the volute spring that is connected to this arbor 16, and the amount of motion that can be given to this toothed segment U depends upon the position of the hour-snail 36, because the lever Q3 is moved by the portion q2 ofsaid toothed segment U taking against the lever Q, and the movemen-t ofU and Q3 continues until the finger 37 comes into contact with one of the segmental faces of the said hour-snail 36. A pin, it, upon the toothed segment U, which pin is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, moves said lever Q and its finger 37 in the other direction.

Upon the arbor 16 is a segmental ratchet, S, and there is a stud, 24, and swinging escapement 23, with a tooth, 25, that is acted upon bythe teeth of the segmental ratchet S to move the hammer and strike the bell,as in the aforesaid application. \Vhen the push piece I is moved in the direction of the arrow, and the pinion 30 and segmental ratchet S are revolved as far as the hour-snail 36 will permit,as many teeth of the segmental ratchet S pass by the tooth 25 as there are hours to be struck. The escapement 23 yields under the action of the spring 65 as the teeth of S pass by the tooth 25 of said escapement during the forward movement of the segmental ratchet S; but the motion given to said escapement is not sufficient for the hammer t to strike the bell. During the return movement of the segmental ratchet S the teeth of S give said escapement a greater movement, and one blow of the hammer t6 is given for each tooth of S that passes by the tooth 25 of the escapement 23. While this segmental ratchet S is revolving back to its normal position the pinion 30 restores the toothed segment U and the parts therewith connected to their normal positions,

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and the spring 38 aids in these movements by acting upon the lever Q. There is also a toothed rack,V, upon the pivot 40, which acts upon the second escapernent, 42, to strike the ve-minute blows upon the bell or alarm, as in the aforesaid application, and the spring 45 moves this toothed rack Vin one direction, and the arm t upon the arbor 16 acts to move this toothed rack Vin the other direetion,and there is a spring -pawl, Z, the end of which catches in a small notch at one end ofthe toothed rack V, as seen in Fig. l, and upon the spring-pawl Z is a cam-surface, Z', and the parts are so placed that when the toothed segment U is moved by the push-piece I, as before described, the pawl i upon this toothed segment U comes in contact with the cam portion Z of the springpawl Z, and this disconneets the end of the pawl from the toothed rack V, and the spring 45 swings this toothed rack V, so that the teeth of such rack V pass by the second eseapement, 42, andthis movement continues until the finger 41 upon this toothed rack V is arrested by coming into contact with one of the segmental surfaces upon' the minute snail-wheel T, and the parts stand in this position during the time that the segmental ratchet S is being moved past the eseapemeut 23. The finger t is loose upon the arbor 16, and upon said finger is a pin, 75, that is in the path of an offset upon said arbor 16.

The tinger t remains stationary while the arbor 16 and its toothed segment S are being rotated in one direction, and it also remains stationary during the return movement of said arbor and segment while the hours are being struck, and continues stationary during the said return movement until the offset comes in contact with the pin 75. Then said fingert turns with the arbor 16 and moves said toothed rack V back against the action of the spring 45, and the teeth of V act against the escapement 42 and strike the tive-minute strokes. The number of these strokes will depend upon the distance that the toothed rack V has been swung by the spring 45 before the finger 41 has eomeinto contact with the minute snail-wheel T. It is therefore to be understood that this snail-wheel T will occupy such a position to the minute-hand d2, that is connected therewith,that but one tooth of the rack V will pass by the second eseapement, 42, if the minute-hand is between five and ten minutes, two teeth if it is between ten and fifteen minutes, and three teeth if it is between fteen and twenty minutes, and so on.

By placing the pinion d of the minute hand adjacent to the watch-plate and raising the wheel c of the hour-hand, and placing the minute-snail T and its surprise between them, and arranging the gearing as shown, I am enabled to obtain the necessary space for the various parts of the repeating mechanism, and this additional space required 'is about onethird less than that required il" the parts were arranged with the minute-pinion above the snail T. lf desired, the minute-snail may be increased in size and be of a shape adapted for minutes instead of periods of 'live minutes.

The sonorous wires are shown by dotted lines at 4, Fig. l, and the hammers 'lf' l, for striking the five-minute and hour blows, respectively, are also shown by dotted lines in said Fig. l.

I do not claim, broadly, the combination of a pinion upon the arbor of the minute-hand, a wheel upon the tubular arbor of the hourhand, and an intermediate wheel and pinion gearing with thefirst-named pinion and wheel, respectively; but

I claim as my invention l. The eombinatiomwith the striking mechanism in a repeating-watch, of the arbor (l/ and pinion (Z on the same, the gearing c, et, and c', and the tubular arbor 0', for the hour-hand 02, and the minute-snail T, and surprise upon the arbor d and between the wheels c c', substantially as set forth.

2. The combination,with the winding-stem, the swinging plate C, and pinion S, of the pinion d upon the arbor d and the intermediate gear-wheels, b b', the wheel c, gearing into the pinion (Z, the pinion e2, wheel c', tubulararbor o', and hour-hand oz, and the minute-hand snail T, fastened upon the arbor d and adjacent to the pinion cl, substantially as set forth.

3. The minute snail-wheel Tand arbor rl, to which the same is fastened, the pinion d upon the same arbor, and the gearing to the hourhand, in combination with the eseapements for striking, the toothed segment U, toothed rack V, the pusher I and lever Q, for moving the toothed segment U,and segmental ratchet S,the springpawl Z, for holding the toothed rack V, the pawl i, for unlatching the spriug-pawl l, and the finger t upon the arbor 1,6 of the segmental ratchet S, for returning the toothed rack V to its normal position, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 23d day of March, 1888.

C. H. MEYL N.

Vitnesses:

Guo. T. PINCKNEY, WILLIAM G. MoTr.

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